Carry Me
by arrowthroughmyheart
Summary: This is a story about a girl who Sasuke meets when he first arrives at Orochimaru's hideout.
1. Chapter 1

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Orochimaru said. "She's one of my best students."

He'd noticed Sasuke staring at the match that was happening in the ring below. The girl, who did not appear to be much older than Sasuke himself, was in the middle of what seemed an extremely complicated combination of Taijutsu and Ninjustu. The girl's long hair that looked to be both purple and red, hung almost halfway down her back in tight waves. She brought the index and middle fingers of both her hands to her dark cherry red lips after she completed a series of hand seals and Sasuke watched as she opened her mouth and a batch of red lightning flew from her throat. The lightning struck her dark-haired opponent in the chest and he flew across the room, hitting the wall. Sasuke wondered faintly if he was dead. The girl still stood with her legs spread apart in a bracing position, her small chest heaving. She turned around. She wore black capris, purple shirt, and fingerless fishnet gloves. She wore something akin to a choker around her neck. She looked up at him and before Sasuke knew it she was up on the platform next to him. She held up her right hand. She was smiling.

"You must be Sasuke." She said. "Orochimaru talks about you all the time."

Sasuke stared at her hand until she dropped it back to her side.

"I'm Yucara Zimo." He noticed the dirt and sweat that was smeared over her face, yet her skin still seemed to be glowing. He noticed her eyes, which were magenta but if you looked closely enough you could see little bits of aquamarine swimming in them.

"Hi." Sasuke said. Her smile grew even wider, happy to have coaxed a response out of him. She tilted her head.

"Hi." She said. And with that she spun on the ball of her left foot and disappeared into some dark corridor; leaving Sasuke to stare after her, only slightly curious.

* * *

><p>Could one really be so…distant?<p>

That was the question Yucara asked herself. She suspected he hadn't always been like that but he'd come with a goal and he had every intention of achieving it. She could see that in his eyes, black as coal; hear in in his words, though he'd only spoken one and it had contained exactly one syllable.

She wandered down the corridor until she reached a place that looked familiar. She laid her hand on the earthen wall and a hole appeared that was big enough for her to step into it. She resolved to herself not to think about it anymore. He'd probably he here for a while, he couldn't avoid her forever.


	2. Chapter 2

Yucara sat down on a blanket that was lying on the floor, she lit the candles, and she stared at the plate of food that was sitting in her lap. She wasn't hungry, so she just sat and listened to vibration of the glass of water that sat on the blanket next to her.

So _this _is what boredom felt like.

Yucara had never been bored, even when alone. She was always content with just…herself.

Not anymore.

She stood and put the plate – still untouched – and the cup on the counter. She moved back to the blanket and lay down to sleep.

* * *

><p>When Yucara woke up the next morning she felt a series of emotions; fear, confusion, and finally relaxation. She had yet to stop having that nightmare. It was always the same one, she'd been having it for as long as she could remember and she always woke up tasting salt. She scrambled up and put on her clothes. She pressed her hand against the wall and it opened. Orochimaru had once asked why she didn't want a door and she'd only told him that it was easier this way.<p>

She moved down the hall that had always made her feel claustrophobic. She'd never really belonged on the ground – let alone in it.

She arrived in the same ring where she'd been yesterday, only to find that Sasuke had beaten her there. Yucara was vaguely shocked; she was always the first person awake. She didn't say anything; if he didn't already know she was there she most certainly wasn't going to alert him to her presence.

She watched him; the way his body moved. He was skilled. She could tell. She watched his hands as they formed signs.

"Chidori!" She saw lightning erupt around his hands. She was impressed. She applauded slowly, loudly.

He turned and looked at her. He hadn't known she was there.

It was in that moment that Yucara saw his whole face for the first time, he had been looking down the day before and his hair had covered his face.

But when he looked directly at her then, Yucara gasped and her body slumped forward to the railing as her hands clutched it tighter. She was overcome by a memory.

* * *

><p>"<em>What are they doing, Mommy?" a four-year old Yucara asked tugging on her mother's sleeve with one hand while the other hand's thumb was lodged firmly in her mouth. "Why is Daddy with them?"<em>

_Yucara stared at the men, innocently._

"_They're just…talking." Her mother said as she shifted her hand in her sleeve to hold Yucara's hand in her own. She squeezed it roughly._

_If Yucara had chosen to look up in the moment she may have seen a tear roll down her mother's cheek. But as it was she stayed staring at her father and the men he was conversing with, blissfully ignorant._

* * *

><p>When Yucara came to Sasuke was holding onto her curvy waist, trying to keep her from falling over. She clutched at his arms feebly and she atte<p>

mpted to stop the flood of memories that suddenly overcame her. She had never been able to remember anything before when she was seven. She didn't understand why she suddenly could.

She remembered a boy. One who looked so much like Sasuke. He had come to the village a lot.

* * *

><p><em>Yucara watched as the man shielded her from the explosion of fire. She curled into a ball beneath him. Finally the fire stopped and the man moved.<em>

_Yucara stared at him. He was hurt. She moved next to him._

"_Why did you do that?" she asked. "You could've run."_

_He looked at her and slowly reached at hand up to touch her face._

"_Because I believe in you." He said simply. "And you fight for what you believe in."_

_Yucara wasn't absolutely sure why he would feel that way but suddenly she was strongly overcome by an emotion that she remembered vaguely. She was almost certain it was love._

"_Let me help you." Yucara said._

_She held her hands out over the man's body and scrunched her eyes closed. Her hands began to glow with purple chakra as she healed him. Her mother had taught her this technique and she had often wondered why she would need it but now she was eternally grateful to her mother._

_When she was finished healing him the man stood though he should've still been in pain._

"_Goodbye, Yucara." He said._

_And as he walked away, Yucara realized that she didn't know his name and she had never told him hers._

* * *

><p>Yucara had apparently fallen down. She was lying on the ground and Sasuke was kneeling next to her.<p>

"What was that about?" he asked.

"You remind me of someone."

"So you fainted." It did sound kind of ridiculous.

_Do you have a brother?_ She asked him.

Or at least she _wanted_ to ask him. For whatever reason she couldn't do it.

So instead she tilted her head, looked up at him, and said, "Tell me something." Because she knew that before long the memories would come back again and maybe if she was distracted it would hold them at bay because sometimes it's best not to remember.

Now he looked really confused.

"Like what?"

"Tell me about your friends." He still stared at me. "You do have friends, don't you?"

Now he was glaring.

"Do _you_ have friends?"

"Touché." But she was still waiting. He sighed and sat down next to her.

"Aren't you gonna sit up?" he asked.

"I like it right here."

"Well, Naruto was an idiot…"

* * *

><p>It was late and Yucara had yet to train. She'd been too busy listening to Sasuke's story. His friends sounded fun. The only person she could remember ever taking an interest in her was the tall guy and he'd been a little too serious for her liking.<p>

She should go to sleep now and she knew. Sasuke had long since gone but she still lay in the same spot that she had been lying in all day. She was staring at the ceiling. It had been a long time since she'd seen the stars. She decided that it did not need to be any longer.

She stood up; finding that her limbs had become cramped from a day of disuse. As she exited the hideout she concealed the entrance and moved up to the roof. She'd always loved the stars, they reminded her of the things she couldn't reach, they pushed her to try harder.

* * *

><p>Yucara sat up quickly, screaming. It was the nightmare again. Salt. She had grown to hate salt. She glanced around. She'd fallen asleep on the roof.<p>

Well, that wasn't good.

Yucara hurried to the training arena. She hadn't done anything yesterday and she'd have to make up for it today. As she ran she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, it no doubt looked especially wild after a night of sleeping on the roof. It was already impossible to manage.

Yucara's hands caught the railing so she wouldn't run directly into it. She looked at the arena. Empty. She was the first again. But, oddly enough, she wasn't happy about it.

She jumped the railing into the arena. She was an earth and a water user, she knew that she needed to stop with the lightning it always hurt her. But she'd been told many times that she did not know when to quit. When to flee. And she didn't. She couldn't stand losing and on occasion she pushed herself to the point of passing out.

But she'd never lost.

She sat down to meditate. Today she would focus on endurance. She needed to learn how to use her kekkeigenkai for an extended period of time without any of the devastating consequences.


	3. Chapter 3

**And now a serious time jump.**

**All the way to after the Five Kage Summit, when Sasuke and Naruto are talking.**

* * *

><p>So this was Naruto.<p>

He didn't look like an idiot.

As Yucara listened to his words she felt Sasuke's arm muscles tense where they lay across her shoulders.

It occurred to her suddenly that he would understand. Hell, he _already_ understood.

Without really thinking about, she took one tentative step forward. In a flash, Sasuke's hand slipped from her shoulders, grabbed her arm, and spun her around to face him.

"What are you doing?" He asked. She would've answered but she wasn't absolutely sure. She looked into his eyes. They didn't look the same. She leaned forward slowly, stretched her feet until she was tall enough that she could tilt her head up to him, and lightly pressed her lips to his. And before could regret or question why she had done this, she let her lips glide across his cheek to whisper in his ear.

"I'll help you."

Then she dashed across the water to stand with Naruto, the pink-haired girl who she assumed was Sakura, and the man with the face mask.

* * *

><p>As they walked back to the village, Sakura wondered idly who this girl was. She wore fishnet stockings, short pleated teal skirt with black shorts underneath, a black cropped jacket over a cropped shirt that ended just over her belly button with lace sleeves, fingerless fishnet gloves, her with stomach covered with fishnet as well. She was about 5'6" and Naruto was carrying her on his back. She was keeping her head hidden in his shoulder.<p>

"I'm sorry." She said, lifting her head from his shoulder. "I'm being rude. My name is Yucara Zimo."

"Naruto-"

"Uzumaki." Yucara said, leaning her head over his shoulder to look at him. "Sasuke told me about you. He said you were an idiot. But you don't look like one to me."

Naruto blushed slightly at the girl's bluntness.

"He told me about all of you. When he first came to us."

"Yucara, how did you end up with Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not sure. He's in most of my earliest memories. And then Sasuke killed him. He said he was going and asked if I wanted to leave with him. I saw no reason not to."

Naruto kept his eyes forward.

"We should be getting there soon." He said. "You do know that they will take you into custody, right?" He asked, speaking to Yucara.

"I am aware."

* * *

><p>Yucara sat in the white room staring stoically at the ANBU in front of her.<p>

"How long were you with Orochimaru?" He asked.

"From when I was about seven to when I was like sixteen, so around nine years."

"Where are you from?"

"I don't remember." Her back felt bare. They had confiscated her swords.

"How long have you known Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Four years."

"Did you or did you not help him kill this man?" the ANBU asked pulling a picture out from under the table. Yucara looked at the picture. It was the man, the one who'd saved her life when she was just five-years old.

"Sasuke wanted to kill his brother." Yucara said, not fully comprehending want the man was saying. Or perhaps just not wanting to.

"Yes." The man agreed. "Did you not help him?"

"I helped him kill his brother." Yucara admitted. "But what does that man have to do with anything?"

"He is Sasuke's brother." The ANBU looked exasperated.

Yucara felt faint. She knew that Sasuke wanted revenge against Konoha for what the elders had done to his brother. She knew that he had wanted to kill his brother for his clan's massacre. She knew that he had succeeded. But not once had she had what his bother looked like. Not once had she seen him for herself. If she had, maybe she could've stopped Sasuke from doing it. Maybe she could've stopped it all. But she hadn't.

She felt faint.

* * *

><p>When Yucara awoke it was night time and she was in a hospital. Her head was pounding and she felt the memories she'd been holding back since the first time she saw Sasuke began jostling forward.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Yucara looked around, frantically searching for her mother. She'd lost her at the market and all she could see were a bunch of people that she <em>did not know_. She turned around and bumped into the abdomen of a tall man._

"_Sorry." she said around her thumb, not raising her eyes from the ground. She began to move around him. He grabbed her shoulder and she froze, frightened._

"_Who are you looking for?" He asked, squatting so that he was at eye level with her. She kept her eyes on the dirt ground._

"_Mother says not to talk to strangers."_

"_Do I look strange to you?" He asked and she finally raised her eyes from the ground to look at him._

"_Yes." She answered. He laughed. She thought he had a nice laugh. "I was looking for my mom." She said, deciding to answer his earlier question. The man tilted his head._

"_What does she look like?"_

"_She looks like me." Yucara said, twirling a piece of hair around her index finger. She thought about what she had just said. "But bigger."_

"_Hop up." He said, indicating for her to climb onto his back. When she did, he stood. "Where was she when you lost her?"_

"_By the fish stand." Yucara recalled the stench; she'd inched away from it slowly and the next thing she knew she couldn't see her mother anymore._

_They searched for her for a long time until finally they spotted her standing in front of the rice shop glancing around urgently._

"_Mom!" Yucara yelled, waving an arm above her head. She jumped form the man's back and raced toward her mother. Her mom turned to her, lifting her from the ground and twirling her in a circle._

"_I was so worried about you." Yucara's mother said, trying to smooth the wild hair around her daughter's face to no avail. "Don't you ever do that to Mommy again, okay?"_

"_Okay." Yucara said. "Mom, there was a-"But she stopped her sentence when she looked back at the crowd and found that the man was gone._

"_There was a what, honey?"_

"_Nothing." Yucara said, quietly._

* * *

><p>"Go away." Yucara said, sitting up in her bed and covering her ears. She didn't want to remember. It hurt enough already.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Go." Yucara's mother told her as her father exited the room to go answer the door.<em>

"_Go?" she was confused. Why would she – why should she – leave her home?_

"Go_." Her mother's voice was more urgent now as she listened to her husband open the door. She could hear men's voices. She turned her daughter around and pushed her through the back door._

"_Wait! Mom!" Yucara exclaimed as she saw her mother slam the door. "Where should I go?" she asked in a much quieter voice. She heard a glass shatter and her mother yelled. She turned and ran into the forest behind her house. As Yucara scrambled through the trees she caught her foot on a large tree trunk and fell. She hit her head on a rock and blacked out._

_Yucara awoke to feel a warm tongue licking her face. She opened her eyes slowly and raised her hands to keep the animal from licking her anymore. She looked at the russet fox that stood before her, staring at her with a look of absolute adoration._

"_What are you doing?" she asked it as she stood to go home. Surely that would be fine. As she began to walk home the fox tailing behind her, bounding energetically over the high tree roots. _

_When Yucara finally found her way home, she entered through the back door and made her way to the living room. She screamed at the sight that welcomed her._

_There was blood everywhere. Her father's head was tacked to the wall while his lay on the wooden floor bent in a horrible way. Her mother was slumped against the wall with a sword-hilt sticking out of her chest._

_And so she did what any five-year old would do when faced with such a situation. She ran back to the forest wishing she had never decided to come home; the fox still following her._

_Once she was a good distance into the forest she fell onto her knees, clutched the animal to her, and sobbed until she no longer had any tears to offer._

* * *

><p>"Go away." Yucara said, her hands clutching her hair tightly. "Go away, go away, go away, go away."<p>

She wanted them to stop. They hurt her like she was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

* * *

><p>"<em>You are the devil's child!" one man yelled.<em>

"_You need to die!" yelled another. Yucara scrambled over the tree roots frantically. It had taken a year, a year of her hiding out in forest with only the fox, who she'd decided to name Chikyu, for company but they had finally decided to storm the woods in search for her. She'd known it would happen eventually but she had never thought it would be so soon. She was glad Chikyu had gone to search for food; she didn't want her to be here for this._

_Yucara skidded to a stop as the trees ended and she almost fell over the edge of a cliff into the ocean's water. She spun around to face the large crowd of people bearing pitchforks and torches. She was becoming frantic._

_She was six-years old! She didn't know how to fight! She stuck her thumb into her mouth as the group began to move towards her. She gnawed on it until she began to taste blood and then she kept gnawing until a drop fell from her mouth. They were getting awfully close._

_As the small drop of blood hit the grass below her feet, symbols began to spread out around her until they surrounded her in a circle. She wasn't sure was happening but she heard the loud rumble of thunder and felt a droplet of rain hit her shoulder. She saw the crowd stop its movements and heard the ocean beat hard against the cliff side. One of the men screamed loudly. And Yucara glanced to her side to see a giant head that looked to be five times the size of her entire body. Yucara moved away from it as she saw one aquamarine intelligent looking eye look at her. It moved one gigantic foot onto the edge of the forest as it began to climb the mountain side. It was royal blue and had scales like a snake and when Yucara looked behind her she could see giant wings growing from each side of its body. It was a dragon, and a rather large one at that._

_Yucara watched as the crowd dissipated and ran at the sight of the beast. It turned its head to look at her._

Let me take you somewhere where you will be safe_._

_Yucara did not feel as if she were in any position to argue with it so she scrambled onto the dragon's neck and thought about Chikyu, who she would never see again. The dragon took flight and Yucara watched the ground speed by below her. She was afraid so she closed her eyes and pressed her face into the creature's neck. They may have hated her but that place was her home. She couldn't watch it go by without a second thought._

* * *

><p>"STOP!" Yucara so shrilly that all the way across the village Akamaru awoke and burrowed his face into his paws, whining.<p>

She had had enough. She didn't want to remember anymore. She yanked violently at her hair. She vaguely heard the hospital staff the worked the graveyard shift crowd around her but she couldn't see where she was anymore. The only things her eyes saw were her parents bodies, mutilated in the living room and the giant beast, who had told Yucara at some point that her name was Mizu, that had cared for her for weeks and then left her alone in the desert where Orochimaru had found her.

She wasn't sure how it had happened or who had told him to come find her but at some point during the night Naruto showed up. He lay down on the bed next to her and pulled her into his chest. Eventually her screams turned into sobs and she curled herself into a ball against him, clutching the front of his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her slim frame and rubbed her back in soothing circles until she fell asleep with him following soon after.

Yucara remembered now that she was just a little girl from the small Hidden Village of the Stars in the Country of the Wind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry, it gets a little semi-pornographic in here.**

**Sasuke seems a little OOC in here to me.**

* * *

><p>Yucara opened her eyes blearily. She felt arms wrapped around her and her face was pressed against something hard. Slowly she began to remember what had happened the night before. But as opposed to pushing Naruto away like she usually would in a situation such as this she pulled him closer to her. She would always be grateful to him for what he had done for her the night before. He barely knew her but he was willing to let her cry into his chest until his shirt was thoroughly soaked through. She closed her eyes again and decided to enjoy the feeling of his warmth against her. Soon she fell back into a content sleep.<p>

Naruto awoke to see Yucara with her head pressed firmly against his chest. He blushed slightly looking down at her. He felt kind of bad; he'd seen her kiss Sasuke and was not sure what their relationship was but he was sure that Sasuke would not appreciate him spending the night with sleeping next to her, even if he had a valid excuse. And he couldn't move because their legs were tangled together. As he lay there just thinking, the door clicked open and Sakura came through.

She flushed red at the sight that met her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'll just…" She said beginning to back out of the room.

"No, you're fine." Naruto said.

"Why are you here?" Sakura asked him.

"One of the nurses on duty came and got me last night. She was screaming her head off. I have no clue what could've made her act that way."

Yucara shifted in the bed and Naruto looked down at her as she opened her eyes.

No salt, she suddenly realized.

No. Salt.

She'd slept peacefully for the first time in years. She wasn't sure if it was because of Naruto or because she'd finally remembered the things that had been haunting the back of her mind for nearly ten years. But either way she felt so happy she grinned wider than she had in years and laughed. She reached her arms up to wrap them around Naruto's neck.

"Thank you!" she practically yelled in his ear.

"You're welcome." Naruto said, though he was not exactly sure what she was thanking him for. His face flushed again as she placed a loud kiss on his cheek. Naruto doubted that he had ever blushed so much in his entire life.

Unexpectedly, Yucara sighed.

"I have to go back, don't I?"

"Yeah, they're not going to let you get out of questioning that easily." Naruto replied.

"Will you go with me?"

"Sure."

Yucara rolled over in the bed and swung her legs over the side as Naruto stood up on the other side. For the first time, Yucara noticed Sakura standing in the center of the room staring at her oddly. Yucara seemed to recoil into herself. Sakura didn't like her and, honestly, Yucara couldn't blame her for that.

She was almost sure that Sakura liked Sasuke and, well, she hadn't made much of an effort to hide the fact that she'd kissed him.

"Hi." Yucara said, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before hurriedly pushing it back forward. She hated her ears, they were a bit too large and abnormally pointy but she'd never been able to rid herself of the habit of pushing her hair behind them when she was nervous. Sasuke had liked them; he'd always tugged on them when he was teasing her. Yucara blinked her eyes rapidly to hold back the tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes because she already regretted her rash decision to leave him. She'd broken a promise and that wasn't something she did often.

"Hello." Sakura said, rather nicely considering but Yucara did not feel the need to say anything else her so she proceeded to rake her hands through her wild hair in hopes of taming it slightly.

* * *

><p>"Are you going to ask me a question?" Yucara asked the ANBU who just sat staring at her.<p>

"What happened yesterday?"

"I fainted." Yucara had thought that that was fairly obvious.

"Why?" the ANBU pressed. Yucara turned to look to Naruto, who they had for some reason let come into the interrogation with her. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"I-I was remembering." The ANBU looked at her, confused.

"For a long time I couldn't remember anything before the time when I was seven." She explained. "When I first met Sasuke I remembered some things but yesterday it all came back."

"What do you know about Sasuke?" it was Naruto who asked this question. The ANBU glared at him with a look that clearly stated, _you're not supposed to talk._

"Sasuke was the first person to ever beat me in a spar. He was my partner." Yucara said. She noted the look the ANBU was giving her. "Fighting." She corrected hurriedly. "He was my fighting partner."

Of course there was that one time, only a year after they had first met.

* * *

><p>"<em>Can you go now?" Sasuke said from where he was standing staring at her.<em>

"_Why? I like it right here." Yucara said, wiggling a little to better situate herself on his bed._

"_Because I want to go to sleep."_

"_No one's stopping you." He glared down at her and she just looked back up at him, smiling widely. That is, until he reached down and grabbed her before even registered his movement._

"_Hey! No fair!" Yucara yelled kicking wildly, though her feet could not have possibly hit him seeing as her back was pressed to his chest. As soon as he sat her down and her feet were planted firmly on the ground, she spun on her heels to face him. She took one small step back once she fully assessed her position; much too close. She turned her head before she could get too caught up in the intense look in his eyes. She didn't notice that he had lifted his hand until it touched her chin and turned her face back to face his. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned closer to her and she closed her eyes. His lips were soft and when they touched hers she felt so full she thought she would burst. Her lips parted and his soon followed. His arms slipped around her waist and he lifted her up until he didn't have to lean down anymore. She brought her legs up and wrapped them around his hips, hooking them at the ankle. She felt him step back until they both collapsed onto the bed. He rolled them over so that he hovered above her._

_Sasuke removed his lips and trailed kisses down her neck until he reached a spot that drove her _insane_. He noticed her moan and paused at that spot before sucking on it. Hard. Yucara raised her hands to his neck and pressed his lips closer to her, raising her hips off the bed and rolling them against his abdomen. She felt him smirk against her neck and she slid down a bit before pushing her hips against his. He stopped his movements._

"_Do that again." He commanded and she complied. Before she knew it he had flipped them over and removed her shirt. As he appraised her she was suddenly very happy that she had managed to grow breasts over the last year. She leaned down and kissed him heavily behind the ear. She heard him groan and felt him raise his hips as they pressed into her core. This time it was she who smirked happy to have returned his earlier favor._

_Yucara felt Sasuke's hands trail up her spine and begin to undo her chest bindings. He reached to her front and brushed his thumbs over the tips of her erect dark red nipples. She gasped and reached down, tugging on his shirt. She pulled it over his head and let her hands feel his chest. He reached down to undo the clasp on her pants. He slid the pants down her legs until they rested around her ankles and she kicked them onto the floor. His fingers brushed lightly across her clit through the fabric of her panties. She moaned and gripped his shoulders roughly. He rubbed against it harder and she pushed her hips into his hand. As his fingers hooked on the edges of her panties and he began to pull them down, she suddenly realized what she was doing. He was her _best friend_. _

"_Wait." She said, pushing feebly against his chest. "Stop." He did but she couldn't help but be a little sad that he had listened to her. She stood and moved across the room to where he had discarded her shirt. She pulled it on and looked over at him to see the look he was giving her._

"_Sorry." She said, though she knew that that did not even begin to cover it. "I just…can't."_

_But she wanted to. Oh, _God_, how she wanted to. _

_He didn't say a word to her, just watched as she exited the room._

_And they never spoke of it again._

* * *

><p>Of course later she'd realized he still had her pants and he'd never given them back. Just as well because that would've been kind of awkward. And besides, her efforts had been pointless because they'd ended up having sex a year later – and many times after that – anyway. It wasn't really like they were in a relationship, though. They'd had more of a friends with benefits thing going on. And it wasn't like they'd kept it going for that long. After he killed Orochimaru, it was harder to find privacy in the group. After nearly being caught several times, a couple of incredibly suggestive comments from Suigetsu, and some looks that suggested plots of murder from Karin, they'd decided it was better if they found other people.<p>

When Yucara's eyes refocused, there was a hand waving in front of her face.

"I'm sorry. What?" she asked, attempting to blink away the images. She shifted in her seat, thinking about that night always left her feeling extremely horny.

"You kind of just blanked on us there." Naruto said. Yucara pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"You wanted to know about Sasuke, right?" She saw the Genin nod in the corner of her eye.

"He knows everything about me and I him." She said. "He's my best friend." She sighed and rested her face in her knees. "At least, he was. I don't think he'll ever forgive me for this."

Naruto rested a hand on her shoulder, though he was not absolutely sure what she was talking about.

"Of course he will." Naruto said. "You're only trying to help him, right?"

"You don't understand." Yucara raised her head and looked at him, seeming to forget the ANBU's presence in the room. "He made me promise that I wouldn't leave him. He made me promise…well he made me promise a lot of things after what happened."

"And what, exactly, happened?"

* * *

><p><em>She had only been sparring but that time her opponent was too strong for. But she hadn't been able to let it go. She kept going long after she should've stopped. She activated her kekkeigenkai but it still wasn't enough.<em>

_Sasuke stood on a higher level observing the events. He noticed when her attacks grew sloppier, looser. He saw an attack coming in her direction and he noticed how she didn't react. He leapt over the railing, stepping in front of her and blocking the attack. He pushed the attacker back and he hit the wall, his skull cracking and blood leaking from the wound. Sasuke turned to Yucara. She looked slightly drunk and Sasuke's usually emotionless face flashed briefly with worry_

"_I'm fine." She said. "I was handling it."_

_He knew that she was not however. He looked her in the eyes. He hated doing that while she was using her kekkeigenkai. Her pupils and the whites of her eyes disappeared and her irises completely encompassed her eyes. She didn't look like herself when she was like this._

"_You need to rest." He said, reaching for her arm._

"_No!" she yelled, yanking it away from him. "I'm _fine_."_

"_I'm fine." This time when she said it she chuckled softly. "I'm fine!" Her chuckling became all-out laughing. She threw her head back and her laughter took on a more manic quality. She still hadn't deactivated her jutsu. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't notice when he moved behind her and pushed a spot on her neck until she passed out._

_**A**_

"_What-What happened?" She asked once she awoke. She touched the heel of one hand lightly to her head. "Ouch."_

_Looking around, she noticed that she was in his room. On his bed._

_Well that brought back memories. She felt warmth rush to her face and she knew that she was probably bright red._

"_You went too far." He said, pretending not to notice her red face. "You used it for too long."_

_She dropped her face into her hands._

"_No. How bad was it?" She asked._

"_You laughed." She looked at him._

"_I laughed?" He nodded. She lay back down against his pillows. There was silence. _It was fine,_ she told herself. _No one got hurt.

"_I don't think you should use it anymore." His words punctured the little bubble she had been building around herself._

"_What?" She sat up and swung her feet off of the bed so that she could look at him directly._

"_You've losing control too often." He said. He seemed to wrestle with himself before continuing his statement. "I don't want to see you like that again."_

"_I can control it." She pressed. "I just have to work on it." She saw that he was not moving his position on the matter._

"_How would you feel if I told you I wanted you to stop using your Sharingan because you were starting to go blind?" Well when she said it like that, it sounded crazy. He still was not budging on it._

"_Fine." She conceded._

"_And there's something else." He said. She sighed dramatically._

"_Okay, what?"_

"_I want you to promise not to-"He paused. It was such an incredibly long pause that she began to wonder if he even had any intention of finishing his statement. But he did and when he spoke again he seemed to have to force the words out. "leave me."_

_Her gaze softened._

"_Of course I won't." she said. Then she leapt at him and pulled him into a large embrace that he didn't return._

_But she hadn't expected him to._

* * *

><p>"But I did." She said.<p>

"I have to ask." The ANBU said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the table. "What is this kekkeigenkai that you speak of?"

"Tsurinagan." Yucara said. "I see auras."

"And how does that work?" he asked.

"There are different parts to an aura." Seeing Naruto's look, she said. "Shocking, yes, I know. You can tell a lot about a person from it; fighting style, personality, fears, weaknesses, chakra control or even the amount. Most parts can change over time but there is one part that is always the same no matter what. This part." She gestured to the area over her heart. Naruto looked excited.

"Really?" He asked but didn't wait for a response. "What's mine look like?" she glared at him.

"Did you not hear what I just said? I haven't used it in three years." She looked back forward. "I already broke my other promise. I can't break that one too."

"There's probably something else you'd probably want to know." She turned back to the ANBU and turned down the collar of her dress. Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of the miniscule symbols written on her neck and the twelve jewels that were embedded in her skin.


	5. Chapter 5

**Is it weird that I always thought Gai and Lee might, like, elope or something?**

**It's just the way they'd always yell each other's names. I probably wouldn't think anything of their relationship if not for that.**

* * *

><p>"This-"she gestured to her neck. "is my summoning pact."<p>

She'd only remembered this the night before but she didn't want to give them any reason not to trust her. She reckoned they had enough of those already. She'd never really known what they were until then.

But now she remembered the circle, the candles, the fire they'd used to melt her skin just enough to push in the jewels. She remembered how it had hurt, how they had had to hold her down she keep her from moving so much that she messed up their work.

"But you only have to sign a contract." Naruto stated. "With blood."

"Yes, but mine was different." Yucara stated. "They wanted to bind me to something that hadn't been seen in ages. They inscribed the scroll on my skin but they needed the healing properties of the primary jewels. They thought it would enhance my connection with the spiritual world. And, oddly enough, it did. It's what gave me Mizu."

"Mizu?" Naruto asked.

"My dragon." Yucara answered. "But don't tell her I called her that, she'd kill me."

* * *

><p>"Naruto," Yucara said as they walked down the street. The ANBU had let her free for reasons he did not convey. "there's just about <em>one <em>thing that I didn't tell the ANBU." She said, holding her thumb and index fingers about a centimeter apart. Naruto groaned.

"And you felt the need to tell me this _because?_"

Yucara grinned. "I'm not absolutely sure that Tsurinagan is a kekkeigenkai." Naruto's steps halted.

"What?" He asked. "How can you not be sure?"

"Well since my memories started coming back, I remember a time when I didn't have Mizu but I'm finding it hard to remember if I had Tsunigan then. And during the time that I spent with Mizu, I asked her how she saw things and what she said sounded almost exactly like how I see things when I'm using it." They were facing each other in the middle of the street. Naruto sighed.

"Does Sasuke know about this?" He asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Well you said he knows everything about you."

"Well, for you information, no he does not. I only started thinking about it this morning and have no way of telling him about it." She sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. I was just hoping that you would have some sort of suggestion or at least an opinion."

"My opinion is that you should speak to someone who might have a little more insight into things like this."

"And who do you suggest?"

"Well, I would suggest Grandma Tsunade but she's slightly comatose at the moment so you should see Kakashi, the new hokage. Or almost the new hokage."

"And you think he'll know about this?"

"Who knows." Naruto said, as he watched Yucara clasp her hands together and stretched them above her head, yawning.

"Now where will I sleep tonight?" she asked. "I doubt the hospital would readmit me without an injury of some sort." After saying this she threw a pointed look at Naruto.

"I'm not sure if you want me to attack you or if you want to spend the night at my place." He said, dryly and Yucara punched him in the shoulder.

"What do you think?"

* * *

><p>"You know, I'm beginning to feel like I'm stalking you." Yucara said as Naruto tossed her a blanket.<p>

"It's not stalking if I can see you." Naruto reasoned.

"True."

"How much did Sasuke tell you about me?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"What?" Yucara asked, surprised at the sudden change of subject.

"How much did he tell you about me?" Naruto was suddenly worried that she might know about the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"Not much _about_ you." She said, tugging on a strand of hair. "More_ of_ you." She glanced up at him. "Why?"

"No reason." Yucara didn't look convinced but she dropped it.

"Thank you." She said, looking at him with slightly sad eyes.

"It's not a big deal."

"Maybe not to you but no one's ever been this…nice to me this fast." When Naruto looked at her he noticed that she was looking out the window and when the moonlight shone on her face he thought he saw a tear on her cheek.

"Are you crying?"

"What?" she reached up and brushed her hand across her cheek. "No, of course not."

"Yeah, you were." She glared at him.

"Does it matter?" Naruto moved closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If it helps, I know how you feel." He said. "It took everyone here a long time to accept me."

"Yeah but they all love you now. Probably because you defeated Pain. If _I _were to go back to _my _village, they'd probably try to kill me."

"Where are you from?"

"Honestly, I'm not even from the Fire Country." Yucara said. "I'm from the Wind Country, village of the Stars."

"You're pretty far from home then, aren't you?" he said. "How'd you get here?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." So she told him. Naruto stared at her for a couple of minutes then he burst out laughing.

"What?" Yucara looked kind of alarmed. "What is so funny about that story?"

"Nothing." He was now laughing so hard tears sprang to his eyes. "I just thought of something."

"Something like what?"

"You're not even a Genin." He pointed a finger at her. "You never graduated from an Academy." She hit his arm.

"That's not that funny!" she exclaimed. "It's not like I couldn't take the test and graduate now."

"Still funny!"

* * *

><p>Naruto and Yucara awoke the next morning to a knock on the door. Yucara jolted up and rolled right off the edge of the futon Naruto had set up.<p>

"Owie." She said, clutching her nose, which she had hit on the floor. As she stood up, righting the tank top she had worn to sleep the night before, she saw Naruto answer the door. Kakashi stood in the doorway.

"Naruto, Lady-"he stopped speaking when he caught sight of her in the back of the room pulling down her shorts. "Oh." He said looking from her to Naruto. "_Oh."_ Yucara caught the glint in his eye when he said this.

"No. It's not like that." She said, shaking her head.

"No, of course not." He said, but the glint was still there. Pervert.

"You were saying?" Naruto asked, trying to distract him.

"Lady Tsunade is awake." He said. "She wants to see you, immediately."

"That's great." Yucara said. "Bye." Naruto glared at her.

"No way am I leaving you alone here." He said. "Who knows what you'd do."

"I know." She said, pointing a finger at herself.

"Well, _I _don't and I don't trust you."

"Well, that's just fine because Tsunade wants to see you too." Kakashi said.

"Fine, just let me get dressed." Yucara said, turning around to look for her clothes.

"She said that she wanted to see you as soon as possible." She turned around and he gave her a very pointed look.

"Well now you're just being mean."

* * *

><p><em>It's like the walk of shame<em>, Yucara thought as she walked down the street next to Naruto. _They probably all think I slept with him. _Yucara tugged at her hair trying to find the best way to conceal herself with it. She hadn't cut it in a while and it was well past her butt. She was suddenly very happy with her decision. She resisted the urge to scream at the people she could feel watching her that no, she did not.

Arrival at the Hokage's office could not have come quickly enough for her. But the arrival brought with it someone she had not expected to see ever again.

* * *

><p><em>Mizu had certain tendencies that Yucara held in disdain. Like the fact that she assumed that Yucara would eat raw meat. Or how she would sometimes disappear for days on end leaving her alone. Only this time she left for good, she went back to where she came from, leaving Yucara in the Village Hidden in the Sand. Mizu had told her that she would be safe here, that it was far enough from home for them to never find her. But damn if she didn't miss the stupid dragon.<em>

_Mizu had forgotten that she had no money. Mizu had forgotten that she had no family. Mizu had forgotten that she would basically be a beggar wandering the streets._

_And she was._

_One day she spotted a boy. He had crimson hair and most of the people seemed to be avoiding him. But Yucara. She liked his eyes. And she intended to tell him so. And she pushed through the crowd she noticed that he looked sad. Very, very sad and she could help but wonder why that was. She didn't want him to be sad. So when she finally reached him, she tugged roughly on his sleeve and when he looked at her she said in a tone of voice that demanded he listen, "Hi, I'm Yucara, what's _your_ name?"_

_He looked at her like she was odd, probably because she was dirty, she thought self-consciously. But he answered._

"_Gaara." She opened her mouth to say something, to tell him she liked the sea foam green of his eyes but someone yanked him away before she could._

"_Do not talk to beggars." The woman said it savagely and Yucara flinched, it wasn't_ her_ fault._

_But she saw him again. One day when she was hopping across the rooftops, she saw him sitting alone. She walked up to him and said hello. He looked surprised to see her and she got the distinct feeling that he wanted her to go away._

"_Do you not like me?" she asked and got the feeling that that was the wrong question. "Do you not _trust _me?" she tried again. To her dismay, he nodded._

"_Why not?" she was pouting. He didn't answer and, to _his_ dismay, she moved closer to him, invading his personal space. She wanted him to trust her but she couldn't think of any way to make that happened. Her eyebrows pulled together as she scanned her memories, then suddenly she knew the answer. She leaned closer to him and kissed him quickly on the lips. Yes, Sabaku no Gaara had been her first kiss. But she hadn't really known what it meant, she'd seen her parents kiss each other before and, occasionally, she'd even seen her older sister kiss one of the village boys. But she'd just assumed that it meant that they trusted each other._

_He was shocked and perhaps her kiss had been a little unorthodox and unnecessary in a situation such as this but it had the desired effect and he swiftly became her best friend. And that was how things stayed for six months. Until she wandered out into the surrounding desert so that she could summon Mizu. Her longing for the dragon had stopped being an emotion and now seemed more like physical pain. But she'd chosen the worst possible time to go out and became lost in a sand storm. But though she knew she should've stayed where she was, she could not help attempting to wander closer to the village but she went in the wrong direction and by the time the storm cleared, she knew she'd never find her way back._

* * *

><p>But there he was. Gaara of the Sand. Over the last two days, she had lashed into herself over leaving him, over being so incredibly stupid. A small part of her said that if she hadn't left him then she never would've met Sasuke. But she argued what made Sasuke so much better and more deserving of her time than Gaara. Nothing, nothing at all. At least that's what she told herself.<p>

So once she got over her initial shock, she walked over and stood directly in front of him, blocking his line of vision.

"Do you remember me?" it came out as a raspy whisper, she was almost certain he didn't. He shook his head, proving her right. Maybe he was lying; maybe he was upset with her._ She_ would be upset with her. But, either way, she did the same stupid thing she'd done approximately ten years earlier, she kissed him.

Again, he was shocked. Again, it had the desired effect.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't know, the first part is kind of random.**

**I've got a cold, possibly the flu. I absolutely hate being sick, I mean who doesn't, but it's not usually a problem because I almost never actually get sick. But I spent the night at my aunt's house and she had a cold. And she had the **_**ceiling fan **_**on, just circulating germs.**

**And, right now, I can't breathe.**

**Also, I realize that there's a flashback in every chapter but I'm laying groundwork, or foundations, whatever.**

**Also, it Cirinoah's point of view at the end.**

Perfection. Perfection hurt. It hurt because it was almost always unattainable. It hurt because even if you obtained it, it would drag you to hell and back to maintain it.

Yucara Zimo was not perfect. But she hurt anyway.

Yucara was shattered, the kind of broken that took years and the kind of patience that no one possessed to be fixed. Yucara knew this and there was only one person in the world besides her who did. Because she hid well. She didn't need her eyes to be good at reading people; that came naturally to her. She knew when they suspected things and she changed according to what she knew they would most likely accept. There was only one person in the world that Yucara had never been able to lie to. Not because he was too smart for her lies. Not because he knew her to well to believe them. Not because she cared for him too much to lie to him; damned if she hadn't taken more than her fair share of shots at it. It was because she always twitched when she lied to him, like she didn't quite believe it herself.

She used to paint. Things like ceramics and oil on canvas. But that was when she was like five and she paid little attention to detail, but they had all turned out all right. But lately she had been overcome by the strong urge to start painting again. She wanted to mold clay and find a place with nice scenery to paint. She missed how dirty her hands got after handling the clay and how her parents never seemed to mind when she made a mess. She longed to feel a paint brush in her hands. It always calmed and took her mind off her worries. Though her five-year-old worries were nothing compared to the ones she had now.

Yucara knew a great deal about want. She wasn't sure if it was a sin – she'd never been much of a religious person – but she knew that if it wasn't then it ought to be. It was dangerous. It made people do stupid things and she wasn't really sure if she knew the difference between lust and love and that scared her. More than she'd ever admit.

* * *

><p>Yucara had not been called to the Hokage's office to see her long-lost friend. Honestly, how could she have been? Yucara laughed as she recalled Naruto's bulging eyes when she'd kissed Gaara. It had been hilarious. Her friend had done well for himself. Kazekage. She never would've suspected.<p>

She'd been called because Sasuke had been spotted near the Sand Village. And when she asked why Gaara wasn't with his people, he'd simply said that he had already arrived here when the news reached him. They wanted to know why he'd be there.

"Sasuke's not an idiot. And he'd not a huge fan of the Akatsuki either. So if he's planning on attacking the Leaf, he's probably gathering rouges." She didn't know this for certain but it was accurate enough.

Yucara was upset with herself. She should be with him. Not because she approved of what he was doing; she didn't. But because she kind of…ached without him. Like a throbbing pain in her chest. It was not an altogether enjoyable feeling and she fought the urge to go looking for him. But that would help no one. She knew that they had only gone easy on her because in their eyes Orochimaru had practically been her dad because he had raised her but she'd never considered him as such. They figured that she probably didn't know right from wrong because the way Orochimaru thought, he probably blurred white and black into a huge gray area. Which he did but she was just as guilty. She should've been able to figure out right from wrong herself; she was old enough to know the difference. If she went running back to him, they would not forgive her again so readily. She wasn't a missing-nin now because technically she hadn't been a shinobi when she left her village but doing it again was suicidal.

"Naruto, you, Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and Safaia are going to go."

"Did you just say Safaia?" Yucara asked. Tsunade nodded. "As in Safaia Munsuton?" At Tsunade's second nod, she groaned and dropped her head limply onto the desk before proceeding to bang her head against it. "Do not bring her anywhere _near _me." She sighed. "I cannot handle this right now." Of course given her incredibly bad luck it was at that moment that the door open revealing the exact person she had expressing the wish to not see.

"Tsunade-sama-" the girl said before seeing Yucara. Her shoulders slumped. "Oh, _Yucara._" She said in a rather cold greeting.

"Fay-Fay." The name was decidedly childish and had only been given to her because, even at the age of seven, Yucara had had a hard time pronouncing her name. So she'd ended up calling her Fay-Fay and the name had stuck but it had been eventually shortened to Fay because Fay was just simpler.

Yucara studied her old friend, a Otogakure-nin or _formerly_, apparently Yucara thought she took in the hitai-ate that was displayed proudly around her waist. She looked different but a few months can change a person. Her lime green hair was pulled back in to a high ponytail that was long and hung almost to her calves, bangs covered her forehead and framed her face. Her legs and forearms were clad in fishnet. She wore a black skirt with slits up the sides and short shorts underneath and a dark blue shirt that was cropped just under her bust.

"Why are you _here?_" Safaia asked. "I'm not going to forgive him, or _you._" Yucara stood from her seat and walked over to her. She noticed that Fay had yet to cut her hair.

"Of course you automatically assume that it's all about you. How could it be about you? You didn't even tell me where you were going."

"He killed him."

"_I'm sorry._"

"You're not sorry. Don't even try to lie to me, it's degrading."

"You're right. I'm _not _sorry. It's not his fault, it's not my fault, it's _your _fault. You shouldn't have gotten so attached to a _felon,_ you should've had priorities, and, most importantly, you shouldn't have been _stupid_."

"You know what, you're such a bitch. You have been ever since _he _came along and I'm sick of it. I hate him and I_ hate_ you."

This was actually a very complicated story.

* * *

><p><em>Though Yucara did not consider Orochimaru a father-figure, she did give him a certain amount of respect. And he treated her sort of how he might've treated a daughter, so as a result, the places he went, she went. And on this particular trip to Otogakure, she found herself wandering the streets and during this task, one that was odd for a seven-year-old, she spotted a girl who appeared to be homeless and had hair that was the oddest shade of green. It was kind of freakish, really. But this did not bother Yucara and she felt a strange kind of kinship with the girl, for reasons she couldn't understand because her memory was seriously lacking in many ways. So she searched through her pockets until she managed to summon twenty ryo, which was about half the money she carried on her person at any given time, and she walked over to where the girl stood by the wall of a building – and by stood she meant sat and by sat she meant slumped and by slumped she meant was possibly dead, that was how malnourished she appeared, Yucara could actually see that girl's ribs even through her torn shirt. The girl's expression as she handed over the money was more than worth it.<em>

"_Thank you." The girl said it almost reverently._

"_Don't mention it. I'm Yucara." She held out her hand and the girl stared at it almost like she thought that Yucara was going to slap her with it. Yucara dropped her hand back to her side._

"_I'm Safaia."_

"_Safa-Safa-Safa-_what_?" the girl giggled at her bemused expression. Who gave a child a name like that? It was beyond confusing._

"_Safaia."_

_This time Yucara didn't even attempt to say it. "Fay-Fay, you're coming with me."_

"_To where?"_

"_A wonderful place." It was only a slight lie._

**Ŀ**

Or perhaps not a lie at all_, Yucara thought as she looked at Fay who was beaming as Orochimaru praised her. She had finally mastered the Sound Pulse, a move in which she radiated a bubble of sound from herself in all directions that had the ability to break eardrums. Of course both she and Orochimaru had been required to wear earplugs to observe her training. And everyone else was advised not to be within a mile of the arena in any direction because although she had only just mastered the move once she broke into something it was usually with a bang._

_As Yucara watched the two together she realized that though she herself did not consider Orochimaru to be anything resembling a dad, Fay did, if the blinding smile on her face was any indication. This was a bad thing, Yucara knew, Orochimaru was rarely, if ever, without an ulterior motive but in this case Yucara could not quite figure out just what it might be. She did, however, know that it would end badly because, with Orochimaru, it _always_ ended badly._

**Ξ**

"_I'm thinking about cutting my hair." Fay said, running a hand through her, already short, hair._

"_Don't." Yucara said. "You look better with your hair long."_

"_No, _you _look better with _your _hair long. I look better with mine short."_

"_Uh-uh, other way around."_

"_Are we really going to have this argument?"_

"_Agree to disagree."_

"_No, how about, as long as we're friends, neither of us cut our hair?"_

"_But what if I get like, split ends, or something?"_

"_Fine, trims only. Deal?" Fay spat in her hand and held it out for Yucara to shake. Yucara considered her hand for a couple of seconds before spitting in her own and shaking Fay's, a surprisingly masculine thing to do considering the incredibly girly conversation they had just had. _

"_I hope you're not_sick."

**O**

_Yucara entered the field with her hands placed firmly and tightly over her ears. As Yucara watched, her old friend, or more likely now, ex-friend pushed incredible amounts of chakra into her Sound Pulse. So much, in fact, that Yucara wondered if she wasn't trying to commit suicide by extreme chakra exhaustion._

"STOP!" _she yelled, hands still covering her ears. Given her relatively close proximity to the girl, the intensity of her Pulse was strengthening and Yucara was almost certain that even her covering her ears would not be enough to stop her eardrums from bursting. To her astonishment, Fay actually did. Stop, that is. But the cold look she threw over her shoulder at Yucara made her wonder if maybe it wasn't her best idea to go looking for the girl._

"_You could've stopped him." Yucara didn't say anything, maybe she could've but even if she could have, she wouldn't have. She knew Orochimaru's plans and she had no plans of letting that happen. "This is your fault." Maybe it was._

"_I'm sorry." But she wasn't sorry for not stopping Sasuke from killing Orochimaru. She'd never regret that. What she would regret, however, was how much it had hurt Fay._

* * *

><p>"Don't <em>patronize<em> me!" Yucara yelled. Safaia seemed fairly close to punching her in the face. It was that moment that Naruto chose to interrupt. He put a hand on each of their shoulders and pushed them apart.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here but maybe you shouldn't start a fight. I value my eardrums."

But the two continued to glare at each other.

"I didn't do anything wrong." Yucara said, shaking her head at Fay as she ignored Naruto. "Don't forget that if it wasn't for me, you still be a useless beggar on the streets of Otogakure."

It was true and Fay knew it was, so she didn't reply but just turned on her heel and exited the room. Yucara sighed. She hadn't been upset with Fay at first but Fay's hatred of her had eventually spawned Yucara's own hatred of Fay. She could've gotten over it. Yucara had never told her to get attached. She took several calming breaths in hopes of stopping the burning rage in her chest. She could already feel the lightning sparking in her hair. And before she could calm herself down enough, a flash of red lightning cracked over her arm. She continued to take deep breaths though her head was beginning to throb and she felt woozy. Lightning was a bad thing for her, sometimes she wondered if the lightning wasn't red because her blood was infused into it. It would make sense, explain why she was always so dizzy after using it but her brain rejected the idea. That couldn't happen. Surely it was impossible.

She always sparked when she got angry. She wasn't absolutely sure why. Lightning wasn't even her elemental affinity. It made her sick but she harbored an odd love for it. Almost like some kind of a druggie. But she did not have time for it right now; she tried to avoid getting angry because that lightning was harder to control and more likely to make her pass out. She had neither the time nor the patience to deal with passing out. It was frustrating, to say the least, and thinking about it was not helping her calming exercise. Once she was fairly certain her little exercise was failing, she spun on her heels to face the Hokage.

"I should be able to go, too." She was only mildly upset that the Hokage had excluded her from their little mission. She'd probably end up doing something incredibly stupid anyway.

"I can't send you on a mission. Technically, you're not a ninja." This was true, oh so very true, but Yucara was sick of people saying it to her. And it didn't help that she was well aware that if Tsunade had really wanted to, she could've sent her on the mission but, despite having released from her cell, Tsunade did not trust her.

Not that Yucara could really blame her for that.

She didn't say anything. What could she say? There was no real argument to that. Well, at least, not one that wouldn't be considered aggressive. So the only thing she did as Tsunade reached into her desk was watch. She pulled out a key and handed it to Yucara.

"What's this?"

"A key." Yucara did not appreciate the sarcasm that laced through those words.

"What's it_ for_?"

"Your sister's apartment."

Yucara's sister, Cirinoah, was five years older than her. When Yucara was two years old, she had moved to Konoha to live with their aunt. Eight years later, both Cirinoah and her aunt, Inique, were found by the side of a riverbed drained of both blood and chakra with no signs of either external or internal injuries. Yucara only knew of this because her sister had been a very formidable shinobi and the news had spread quickly. At the time she hadn't even been aware that the girl who had been known throughout the world for her incredible lightning jutsu was her sister, when she'd left she'd taken their mother's name, while Yucara had kept their father's.

So she accepted the key eagerly, gratefully because she still had next to no memories of her sister and even the little link to her was something that she would not – could not – pass up.

* * *

><p><em>She was wandering through the woods when I found her; far from home. The skin of her neck was red and raw and she looked traumatized, desperate. I saw the etchings, the jewels.<em>

_What had they done to my baby sister?_

_Two-years-old. Two-years old and I made sure she wouldn't remember. But everyone else did._

**So I've actually had this chapter done since before I posted the last one I just kept forgetting to post it.**

**The next chapter will be about her sister. Not because she has any strong purpose in the story. I just feel compelled to tell her story.**


	7. Chapter 7

**These chapters will either be from third person point of view, or first person, depending on the effect I want.**

**So I was kind of procrastinating because I still haven't figured out what exactly what is going to go down on the mission, so if the next chapter takes a while, that's why. I will, however, try to live up to whatever, probably totally unrealistic expectations you may have.**

**Their mother's name is pronounced Ry-ē-ă**

**Just to clarify, this is in the past. I just didn't feel like doing the entire chapter in italics.**

My mother thought I held a mild dislike for my father. She was wrong.

I hated him. Loathed the ground he walked on.

He gave her to them. He thought I didn't know but I did. Girls my age don't go wandering through the woods at night for no reason.

I felt guilty. Because I left. I left with only a feeble promise from my mother to keep her safe.

But I couldn't have stayed. It wouldn't have been good. For anyone.

We fought. All the time without fail.

So I left. At least my aunt wanted me.

My family has a kekkeigenkai that runs on my mother's side. We have extensive control over lightning. I was one of the youngest to ever access it. Right before I left my father hit me.

And I hit him.

I changed my name and took my mother's maiden one. I didn't want any connection to him. As far as I was concerned he wasn't even my father. But I looked just like him and that made it harder to forget.

We made the majority of the trip by water. Then we walked.

* * *

><p>There has to be a certain understanding between a mother and daughter before said daughter leaves home before coming of age. Others may have had different priorities in these regards. Tearful goodbyes and promises of return. But, in this particular case, neither party had any of these misconceptions. The daughter was leaving. There would be no return. And so when Cirinoah Zimo – soon to be Nihalai – spoke to her mother on that faithful day, October 21st – exactly two months before her sister's birthday, the first of many that she would be missing, she had only one concern. And after this last affair was taken care of she would be leaving, with her seven-year-old shoulders free and unburdened.<p>

"Take care of her, won't you?"

"Of course." Lies. Cirinoah knew so but her mother was once a great ninja and was very skilled in the art of deception, so if she pretended to believe her no one would know the difference. She _would've_ believed her but her mother was…her mother and she knew her better than most other people ever could.

"I'm serious. She's been through a lot, lately." Cirinoah knew how to deceive as well but she was, at that moment, probably the most sincere she had been in a long while. "She may not remember it but she has."

"So am I."

Those were the last words Cirinoah ever spoke to her mother. Those were the last words her mother could ever give her daughter. But those words made all the difference.

Fate is a very touch and go thing. One small, insignificant moment can change the course of history. One day the seven-year-old would die and be remembered not only for her accomplishments but also for what she'd done wrong with her life. No one would ever know of this conversation but the two who participated in it and they would not live long enough to see the outcome of their actions on that day. No one would know that this conversation saved a village from destruction and saved many lives along with it. Cirinoah would never be aware of it but that conversation would one day save her sister's life. Her mother's memory of the last promise she made to her eldest child would give her the strength she needed to sacrifice herself to save her youngest.

And that made all the difference.

* * *

><p>Lives are not measured in days or months or years or decades. They are measured in events and when you are old and looking back on your life, you are unlikely to remember the exact time or date but you'll remember the people you were with and the great times you had together.<p>

Nothing is quite so exciting, however, as the first sight.

* * *

><p>Cirinoah fancied herself to be very dedicated to her dream and everything she wished to accomplish in her life. So on her day in Konoha, she did not spend her day observing the sights and learning why this was truly the best Hidden Village in all of the nations. She decided that her first day in Konoha would also be her first day at its Ninja Academy.<p>

So she awoke at an ungodly hour on that Monday morning and quickly prepared herself for school. She braided her blonde hair into a high ponytail and pulled on her clothes. She observed her reflection to make sure she was presentable. Her fishnets stockings were in order, her black skirt was not pulled up too high, and her loose black shirt wasn't sticking too close to her body. She pulled her black fingerless gloves onto her hands and flexed her fingers before opening the window of her bedroom and leaving.

Cirinoah had never made it a secret that she wanted to be the best at what she did. And, thus, she wished to be able to get as early a start on what would hopefully be a long and fruitful career as possible. But, of course, to graduate from the academy early you would need the recommendation of your sensei, so she no longer needed only to prove her dedication to herself but also the ones that surrounded her and for her one of the best ways to do that was to arrive early; and she saw no reason not to because she always woke up at this time of the morning to calm her sister's nightmares and she would never be able to go back to sleep. So as she made her way to the Academy she enjoyed basking in the warmth of the early sun.

She was not so dedicated to her work that she would take the seat in the center of the front of the class because some things you just never knew about and she really wished to just sit down in vanish into a corner until some sort of exercise came up where she could prove her value in field work, class work was not something she excelled in. So, she found a seat that was not to close to the front nor the back but was off to the side and sat down, deciding that if it was already someone else's seat, then they should have been there early enough to claim it.

But waking up at the crack of dawn can exhaust a person and sitting in one spot doing absolutely nothing does not help the situation, so as it turned out by the time the sensei arrived Cirinoah was asleep with her head on the desk. He decided to leave her be because _he _was tired and as she had arrived before he had so she was, in all probability, more so.

And so the next person to walk into the class – one Itachi Uchiha, closely followed by his many admirers, and then by the rest of the class - was greeted by the sight of a small girl sleeping on a desk – _his _desk, in all actuality – and his sensei grading papers. He found her peaceful face somewhat comforting. He was so used to girls having huge smiles plastered to their faces whenever he came anywhere near them, which would've been fine but they were never real. The peaceful look did not last long, however. The loud talking of all the class woke her abruptly from her sleep.

There were five seconds of haziness, then five seconds of clarity, and after that it took five seconds for a blush to creep onto her face. She ducked her head, hoping to hide the redness of her cheeks. The chair next to hers scraped across the dusty floor. She glanced up and knew in that instant that he had wanted her to know he was sitting down. He could've been soundless, she knew. But as she raised her eyes she also noticed the crowd of girls surrounding him, glares on their faces.

"_Who are you?_" The vehemence would've surprised her, but she had been expecting it. The possessive tone was nothing that she had never heard before.

"_Why don't any of the girls like me anymore?_"

Once all of the girls stopped thinking that boys had cooties, they'd begun to see her as a threat and had shunned her from their groups.

Her mother had told her it was her eyes. They were the same color as seaweed and with their shocks of yellow and electric blue; she had been told that they shifted color with every turn of her head.

"_One look from your father and I was a goner._"

She'd thought it was sweet _then._

It had become something of a hindrance but she found that without friends to distract she began to spend more time on her training and excelled in her studies.

"I'm new here." She said, a large smile appearing on blood red lips. It was best to remain perky, she'd learned, it disconcerted them. "Cirinoah Zi-Nihalai." She caught herself before she told them her old name. That life was behind her. Those who were paying close attention would've seen the sadness flash through her eyes.

"Well, Cirinoah Zi-Nihalai, would you _move_?" Cirinoah glanced again at the boy by her side. He showed no outward interest in the conversation. She would admit that he was cute enough, but no one to be so rude about.

"No." The smile never left her face. "By the way, it's just Nihalai." She turned to face to front again and was in no way caught off guard when the girl who appeared to be leading the others for the moment – but would no doubt fight them for the seat as soon as Cirinoah was eradicated – grabbed her by the arm.

"I only asked to be polite." The girl said, giving a smile of her own, though hers appeared to be a lot more sarcastic.

"You failed miserably." The girl's grip on her arm tightened.

"_Move_." It was at this point that the smile slipped from Cirinoah's mouth. The tone was no more threatening than the one's the girl had used before but this time Cirinoah was very aware that she was now fully prepared to back up the threat.

"Let me go." The words were spoken with little emotion but an underlying anger. "_Now._"

"Move. _Now._" Her tone was mocking.

It was easier when she was angry, she didn't have to concentrate quite as much. So in that moment it wasn't so very hard for her to make the quick flash of lightning crack across her arm.

The girl's scream was loud and agonized. Cirinoah wasn't particularly worried; no one would believe the girl. Her family's kekkeigenkai wasn't registered anywhere and no one else could make lightning erupt from any point on their body. And, besides that, she hadn't moved or made any hand seals.

"You _electrocuted _me!" the girl yelled clutching her slightly red left hand with her right one.

"No, I didn't." she looked serenely up at her, a smile gracing her lips once again. But this time the girl just walked away, without much more than a glare thrown over her shoulder and her "friends" followed behind her.

* * *

><p>"How did you do that?"<p>

"Do what?"

"Don't lie, I saw it." Itachi was not acting with very much tact. But Cirinoah decided to ignore that in favor of something that she wanted.

"Okay, I'll tell you. But only if you do something for me." The glare he gave her combined with the wave of killing intent he sent, would've made lesser people tremble. "You can't expect me to tell you one of my deepest, darkest secrets and receive nothing in return, especially not when this is the first time we've spoken to one another, can you?"

His glare did not lessen. "What do you want?"

"You're, supposedly, really smart, right?" she didn't wait for him to answer. "I want to graduate soon, like this year, soon. I figured I might need a little bit of help."

"You want me to tutor you?" He sounded slightly shocked; he'd probably expected her to ask for a date or something. Which it kind of was when you thought about it, something she'd rather not do.

"I need you to help me with my combat training, I can memorize a couple of facts from a book but I need a sparring partner who can keep up with me." She said. "I'm assuming you can do that. And if I graduate this year, I'll tell you what you want to know." But she knew he already had a working theory on the matter.

"Deal?" he walked away.

She took that as a yes.

* * *

><p>Riiah Zimo was in a bad mood. Her oldest daughter had abandoned her without even bothering to lie about coming back. Her husband was an asshole who sold their youngest daughter to a bunch of spiritual freaks, just to get them out of a financial hole that he'd dug with his gambling problem. But she was most disappointed in herself. Her behavior had become far worse than indecent and she was well aware that she should take her daughter and leave without so much as a backwards glance. But that just wasn't something that she could do; she'd have to leave the entire village because leaving her husband, no matter what the circumstances would never be accepted here. So she decided that she would stay but there would have to be some changes. She hadn't been sure of her promise at the time but had now steeled her resolve. This was her last promise to Cirinoah and she would die before it was broken.<p>

"If you so much as _touch_ her I will kill you in most painful way imaginable." She forgot about the love she once had for him and the way he used to be. She focused only on the way he was now. "You know I can."


End file.
